Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Chirality in Nature02:30

Chirality in Nature

15.7K
Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.
15.7K
Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur02:30

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

6.6K
Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
6.6K
Chirality02:25

Chirality

28.4K
Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
28.4K
Viral Structure00:56

Viral Structure

71.3K
Viruses are extraordinarily diverse in shape and size, but they all have several structural features in common. All viruses have a core that contains a DNA- or RNA-based genome. The core is surrounded by a protective coat of proteins called the capsid. The capsid is composed of subunits called capsomeres. The capsid and genome-containing core are together known as the nucleocapsid.
71.3K
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers02:25

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

14.4K
Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...
14.4K
VSEPR Theory and the Basic Shapes02:52

VSEPR Theory and the Basic Shapes

80.0K
Overview of VSEPR Theory
80.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Metasurface analogues of molecular diastereomers from hierarchical multiscale chiral interactions with biomolecules.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Ultraviolet Raman Optical Activity as a Window Into Peptide Backbone Structure.

Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology·2026
Same author

A guide to using embedded ethics in human stem-cell-based embryo model research.

Nature cell biology·2026
Same author

Investigation of the Robustness of Rayleigh Optical Activity for the Assignment of Absolute Configurations of Chiral Molecules.

The journal of physical chemistry. A·2026
Same author

Potato Elicitor Peptide StPep1 Enhances Resistance to <i>Phytophthora infestans</i> in <i>Solanum tuberosum</i>.

Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland)·2025
Same author

Optical write-erase chemical memory state in plasmonic nanoarrays.

Chemical science·2025
Same journal

Dual-mode switchable and reconfigurable Van der Waals phototransistor for multi-state image encryption.

Light, science & applications·2026
Same journal

Weak polarization electric field Ⅲ-N LEDs on polar plane with enhanced efficiency and strong lateral carrier confinement.

Light, science & applications·2026
Same journal

Bi-layer photonic random meta-composite for cryogenic thermal control by ultra-broadband scattering matched reflectance.

Light, science & applications·2026
Same journal

Interferometric scattering for optical tomoslicing of transparent solids.

Light, science & applications·2026
Same journal

Multi-dimensional spatial-temporal projection ultrafast compressed imaging.

Light, science & applications·2026
Same journal

Expanded field of view light-field extended-reality displays with metalens array.

Light, science & applications·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Advancing High-Resolution Imaging of Virus Assemblies in Liquid and Ice
08:31

Advancing High-Resolution Imaging of Virus Assemblies in Liquid and Ice

Published on: July 20, 2022

3.5K

Superchiral near fields detect virus structure.

Tarun Kakkar1, Chantal Keijzer2,3, Marion Rodier4

  • 1School of Chemistry, Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK. tarun.kakkar2@gmail.com.

Light, Science & Applications
|December 10, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Superchiral electromagnetic near fields can now detect the icosahedral structure of virus capsids, enabling identification and orientation determination. This breakthrough advances rapid, point-of-care diagnostics for virus detection in complex biological samples like blood serum.

More Related Videos

Sample Preparation for Single Virion Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging
05:31

Sample Preparation for Single Virion Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging

Published on: January 2, 2014

9.9K
Subnanometer-resolution Structural Determination of Hemagglutinin from Cryo-electron Tomography of Influenza Viruses
08:26

Subnanometer-resolution Structural Determination of Hemagglutinin from Cryo-electron Tomography of Influenza Viruses

Published on: November 7, 2025

174

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Advancing High-Resolution Imaging of Virus Assemblies in Liquid and Ice
08:31

Advancing High-Resolution Imaging of Virus Assemblies in Liquid and Ice

Published on: July 20, 2022

3.5K
Sample Preparation for Single Virion Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging
05:31

Sample Preparation for Single Virion Atomic Force Microscopy and Super-resolution Fluorescence Imaging

Published on: January 2, 2014

9.9K
Subnanometer-resolution Structural Determination of Hemagglutinin from Cryo-electron Tomography of Influenza Viruses
08:26

Subnanometer-resolution Structural Determination of Hemagglutinin from Cryo-electron Tomography of Influenza Viruses

Published on: November 7, 2025

174

Area of Science:

  • Nanophotonics and Plasmonics
  • Structural Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Conventional optical spectroscopy struggles to characterize biological assemblies due to light's wavelength limitations and the scale mismatch with molecular structures.
  • Ordered assemblies like virus capsids appear as isotropic spheres, hindering detailed structural analysis and sensitive detection methods.
  • This limitation restricts the development of rapid, high-throughput, and portable diagnostic tools for point-of-care applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate the capability of superchiral electromagnetic (EM) near fields in detecting the icosahedral structure of virus capsids.
  • To showcase the potential of these fields for determining the presence and relative orientation of bound virus capsids.
  • To illustrate the application of subwavelength superchiral fields for virus particle detection in complex biological environments.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized chiral electromagnetic (EM) near fields with enhanced chiral asymmetry (superchirality) and subwavelength spatial localization (approximately 10 nm).
  • Applied these superchiral fields to probe the structural properties of individual virus capsids.
  • Tested the detection capabilities in a complex biological milieu, specifically blood serum.

Main Results:

  • Successfully detected the icosahedral structure of virus capsids using subwavelength superchiral EM fields.
  • Demonstrated the ability to discern both the presence and the relative orientation of bound virus capsids.
  • Achieved sensitive detection of virus particles within the complex matrix of blood serum.

Conclusions:

  • Subwavelength superchiral EM fields offer exquisite structural sensitivity, overcoming limitations of conventional optical spectroscopy for biological assemblies.
  • This technique enables the detection of specific structural features like the icosahedral symmetry of virus capsids.
  • The findings highlight a promising new avenue for rapid, high-throughput, and portable diagnostic tools for pathogen detection.